Babylon and other places

We discovered the hard way that after the administration office locks up at 6:00 pm the security guard is unable to call for a taxi. This is exactly what we wanted him to do twice so I visited the administration office this morning seeking a solution. The lady spoke absolutely no English and me no Spanish. But on her computer she brought up a Web site named Babylon that instantly translates text. She yielded her seat and I typed in my request.

Her translated response read, "No key will leave locked door."

That did not look like the answer I hoped for so I rephrased that translation into what I wanted and asked if I got it right. Her translated answer was, "Forgiveness?" So I reworded it again and asked if it was right. Her translated answer: "Guard no key. Arrangement will be good."

After much musical chairs before the computer we finally got things sorted out. It reminded me of the story of a computer translating into Russian the English expression, "Out of sight, out of mind," and which came out as, "Blind and crazy."

In other news, due to popular demand I post another photo of that rising star Paige. Unfortunately those sunglasses were not enough to fool the paparazzi.

For those of you who thought I might have been exaggerating in an earlier post about Mexico's love affair with changes of floor levels I submit additional evidence from *inside* a store ...

 

 And here again is a view of the pool as seen from our balcony - a photo with a subtle hint of life to it ...

 

Poetry Alert! This is not a drill. The following verse just happened all by itself out of the blue so it's not my fault ...